Welcome to From the Front porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South.

I offer you the story of my own explorations in a service to this question. How can we care for this world?

I have tried to reconcile my roles as one daughter, caring for one father, as one woman attuned at times to only a single wild bird while the planet is burning. How I long to change the world for the better.

I'm Annie Jones, owner of the bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and today it's just me telling you all about the books I read in October.

October, as it turns out, was a really good reading month for me. I perhaps did not read as much as I grew accustomed to reading at the height maybe of the pandemic.

I say, height, we're still we're still very much in it. But earlier this summer, I feel like I was reading perhaps even surprising myself by how much I was reading 10 to 12 books a month that felt like maybe even more.

I think I've settled back into a rhythm. And this really is the rhythm of my reading life. Once I hit the fall, it becomes busier at the bookshelf. And therefore my reading life lessons a little bit. And I feel like this is normal. And how nice to be able to say in 2020 that something is normal.

So so I'm going to take it. So I read some really good books this month. Again, kind of cross a wide range of genres, which I'm grateful for. So let's dive right in.

The first book I read in October was pumpkin heads by rainbow roll and faith Aaron Hicks. You have probably seen this book. I feel like it's popular on bookstore and it has a really in my mind memorable cover pumpkin heads is a graphic novel.

Graphic young adult novel by rainbow roll and faith Aaron Hicks. This is about two teens, deja and Josiah. It spans one night, which I loved just one night in a really epic pumpkin patch.

Set in Nebraska. I think it is kind of based on rainbow rolls on experience of a pumpkin patch in her hometown. And so this book is perfectly seasonal. I loved reading it right when I did. I think there are some readers, maybe even some people who I saw on Instagram comment that they read this every fall. And I can think of nothing better. What a delightful way to kind of kick off October.

I also read this one. One of my favorite ways to read. And this is going to sound so weird, I think, but I love being curled up on the couch on a Saturday, Saturday night reading while football plays in the background. Like I like college football.

I have complicated feelings about college football, the older I get, but I still there is something about it that I really enjoy. But half time exists. Sometimes games are boring, like sometimes they're not super high scoring.

And so it is never a waste of time when you have a good book. So I love one of my favorite ways that I feel like I know fall is here is when I am curled up on my couch reading a book while ESPN commentators are chatting in the background. So I read pumpkin heads exactly this way.

And it's beautifully illustrated. The illustrations are great. The color scheme is perfectly fall. And the story is very cute. It's about these two teens who have every year come back to this pumpkin patch to work. Now they're seniors in high school.

They're kind of looking down at what could come next, like looking down the road at what might be next for them. And they kind of sort of maybe potentially have feelings for each other.

I found Asia to be by far the more compelling character, but you know, Josiah is not bad either. And I just really appreciated their relationship. They're kind of bantery friendship banter is one of my favorite things in a good romcom.

A lot of people asked if this one was appropriate for like an eight to 10 year old. I'm going to be honest as a non parent is somebody who does not yet have children that is a hard question for me to answer. It really depends upon your kid.

But I will say this is very much a young adult book. The main characters are in their late teens. They are about to graduate and go to college. It is PG. There is, as I recall, nothing even vaguely inappropriate about this very sweet romance and sweet book.

But if you're an eight to 10 year old, I'm just not sure you're going to care about what's happening. You've got these two teenagers who are kind of sort of maybe addressing the fact that they have fallen in love.

But they also are grappling with what it's like to be seniors in high school and what it's like to be worried about next steps. So just bear that in mind as you're deciding if this book is appropriate for your maybe middle grade reader.

Also, there are lots of really great middle grade graphic novels out there. So this one, I don't know, you'll have to kind of decide based on your kid. That being said, I thoroughly loved it firmly agree with all the readers who say this is a seasonal read for them also because it's a graphic novel. So I truly finished it in the span of one football game. I mean, what more could you ask for out of a seasonal book.

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